Red Sox injury updates: Why Joel Hanrahan went on DL, a step forward for John Lackey

Red Sox manager John Farrell offered updates on the health and well-being of a few members of his roster. Among them:

— Farrell told reporters that the decision to place closer Joel Hanrahan on the disabled list was made when an evaluation on Monday suggested that he would need to be shut down from throwing for a total of five to seven days due to his sore right hamstring. Because he would have to go that duration without throwing before he could start working his way back to games with some throwing sessions, Farrell told reporters that the decision to place Hanrahan — saddled with an 11.57 ERA — “was pretty clearcut.” Given the right-hander’s struggles, there is also the benefit that he will have an opportunity to pitch in games without attaching importance to the outcomes.

“This will also give us a chance to get him a couple of rehab appearances to get back going and test it at full speed,” Farrell said of the decision to DL the closer.

With Hanrahan on the shelf, the Sox added knuckleballer Steven Wright to the roster as a multi-innings option out of the bullpen.

— John Lackey, on the disabled list retroactive to April 7 due to his right biceps strain, played catch for the first time since having to cut short a throwing session on April 9 due to tightness in his biceps. The session went well, as Lackey threw out to 120 feet without experiencing any discomfort.

“I think that’s a clear sign that he feels good about where he is physically,” Farrell told reporters.

— Stephen Drew is out of the lineup on Tuesday, a reflection of the fact that he’s still building stamina after having his spring training interrupted for roughly three weeks by a concussion. The Sox are currently amidst a stretch of 19 straight days of scheduled games (one of which was rained out on Friday), resulting in a decision to manage Drew’s workload and to get a start for Pedro Ciriaco.

— David Ortiz experiences a spasm in his left heel that resulted in his being scratched from the PawSox lineup on Monday, but he returned to action and went 0-for-4 in his Triple-A rehab game on Tuesday.

“We’re hopeful that by the end of this week, he’s still able to rejoin us. He ran the bases today, so there was no ill effects coming out of today’s game,” Farrell told reporters. “It’s just a matter of getting some timing and some at-bats so over the next three days, or two days, hopefully we’ll be able to get anywhere from eight to 10 at-bats and we’ll re-assess at that time.”

When asked if he felt Friday was still a realistic target date for his return, Ortiz said, “Hopefully. We’ll see how it goes the next couple of games we’ve got left here.”

The DH said his timing is still more of a concern than his Achilles or heels/

“I haven’t played in the last eight months. I’m going to make an adjustment the more I see pitches,” Ortiz said. “You walk into a funk even when you’re good to go. As a major-league player, you make adjustments and you get to the point where you want to be playing. That’s pretty obvious. That’s how it happens. It’s not like I have plenty of time to stay down and think about it. How many at-bats do I take in spring training? Seventy? No, I don’t have time to do that. This is when the experience and what I have learned through the years kicks in. I’ve got to put it into play.”